Archive for January, 2009

Following the recent Starbucks news of more store closures, more layoffs, and more meandering into convoluted sales initiatives, Kevin Coupe says Howard Schultz must go. His argument breaks down the issues with Howard’s near-sighted business vision. It’s provocative and worthy

No matter how you look at it, these are tough times for retailers. High-priced and low-priced retailers have been thrown off-balance from the intense category five strength winds of this economic downturn. It has been reported nearly 150,000 retail stores

This is the last in a series of posts sharing business lessons learned from the movie, AMERICAN GANGSTER. Setting the Scene: Thanks to a misstep by Frank Lucas, who wore a “clown suit” Chinchilla Mink coat to the Ali/Fraizer III

This is the fifth in a series of posts sharing business lessons learned from the movie, AMERICAN GANGSTER. Setting the Scene: The big city street life was new to Frank Lucas’ brothers and cousins. They were used to country life

This is the fourth in a series of posts sharing business lessons learned from the movie, AMERICAN GANGSTER. Setting the Scene: “Blue Magic” has transformed Frank Lucas from a nobody to a somebody. Business is booming and Frank needs people

My endless research for a long-overdue project led me to revisiting Scott Berkun’s THE MYTHS OF INNOVATIONS. This book has oodles of chewy quotes and insights about the ins/outs of nearly everything related to innovation. It was about a year

This is the third installment in a series of posts sharing business lessons learned from the movie, AMERICAN GANGSTER. Setting the Scene: Frank Lucas’ “Blue Magic” heroin became the market leader in New York City. Rivals said he had “upended

This is the second in a series of posts sharing business lessons learned from the movie, AMERICAN GANGSTER. Setting the Scene: In the early 70s, heroin was widely available in the streets of New York City. Common practice was to

This is the first in a series of posts sharing business lessons learned from the movie, AMERICAN GANGSTER. Setting the Scene: Bumpy Johnson was an organized crime kingpin in Harlem. His considerable wealth, street smarts education, penchant for violence, and

We’ve all become familiar with the $50-billion Bernard Madoff investment ponzi scheme. Through a mix of deft misdirection and communication savviness, Madoff was able to convince discerning clients his investment strategies consistently delivered high-returns. It was all a fraud. The